The perfection of "Satan"
In connection with the interest shown by the readers in an article about the Museum of the Strategic Missile Forces on strategic offensive weapons in the face of heavy long-range ballistic missiles, I would like to tell you about one of the most advanced (in my opinion :) weapons ever created by mankind intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) R-36M (index 15A14, START code RS-20A), also known in the "NATO" classification as: SS-18 "Satan" , as well as its direct "successor" R-36M2 (START code RS -20V - "Voivode").
Heavy missiles RS-20 - according to the NATO classification SS-18 "Satan" - intercontinental missiles, adopted on December 30, 1975. The rocket is 34 meters long, has two stages and can carry up to 16 charges at a distance of 10 thousand kilometers. Warheads of individual guidance with a total charge capacity equal to 1200 bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The RS-20 can destroy potential enemy targets on an area of ​​up to 500 square kilometers (for example, the area of ​​the city of Washington , a little less than 200 sq. Km). It was created in the early 1970s by the NPO Yuzhnoye (Dnepropetrovsk).
On September 2, 1969, a government decree was issued on the development of the R-36M, MR-UR-100 and UR-100N missile systems equipped with an RP (Split Head Parts) IN (Individual Guidance) missiles, the advantages of which were due mainly to the fact that the best way is to distribute the available warheads to the targets of destruction, increase capabilities and ensure the flexibility of planning nuclear missile strikes.
')
The development of the P-36M and MR-UR-100 began in Yuzhnoye Design Bureau under the leadership of Mikhail Yangel , who proposed using a mortar launch “tested” on the RT-20P rocket. The concept of a heavy cold start (mortar) rocket was developed by Mikhail Yangel in 1969. Mortar start allowed to improve the energy capabilities of the missiles without increasing the starting mass. Chief Designer TsKB-34 Evgeny Rudyak did not agree with this concept, considering the development of a mortar launch system for a rocket weighing more than two hundred tons impossible. After Rudyak left in December 1970, the design office of the special mechanical engineering (former KB-1 of the Leningrad TsKB-34) was headed by Vladimir Stepanov, who reacted positively to the idea of ​​a “cold” launch of heavy rockets using a powder pressure accumulator (PAD).
In the photo below, the UR-100 (SS-17), which is located in the courtyard of the museum of cosmonautics in the Dnepropetrovsk National Aerospace Center .
The main problem was the depreciation of the rocket in the mine. Previously, huge metal springs served as shock absorbers, but the weight of the P-36M did not allow them to be used. It was decided to use compressed gas as shock absorbers. The gas could hold more weight, but the problem arose: how to keep the high-pressure gas itself throughout the entire service life of the rocket? The KB Spetsmash team managed to solve this problem and refine the P-36 mines for new, heavier missiles. The production of unique shock absorbers started Volgograd plant "Barricades".
In parallel with the KBSM Stepanov, the Moscow KBTM under the direction of Vsevolod Solovyov worked on the development of the silo for the rocket. To absorb the rocket, located in the transport and launch container, KBTM was proposed a fundamentally new compact pendulum rocket suspension system in the mine. A sketch project was developed in 1970, in May of the same year, the project was successfully defended in the Ministry of General Education.
The final version adopted the modified mine launcher Vladimir Stepanov.
In December 1969, the R-36M missile project was developed with four types of combat equipment - a monoblock light warhead, a monoblock heavy warhead, a split warhead and a maneuvering warhead.
In March 1970, a draft of the rocket was developed with a simultaneous increase in the protection of silos.
In August 1970, the USSR Defense Council approved the proposal of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to modernize the R-36 and create the R-36M missile system with enhanced silos.
At the factory, the missiles were placed in a transport-launch container, where all the equipment needed for launching was placed, after which all necessary checks were carried out at the factory test bench. When replacing the outgoing R-36 with the new R-36M, a metal power cup with a depreciation system and PU equipment was inserted into the mine, and the whole enlarged assembly at the test site was reduced to only three (since the launcher consisted of three parts) with additional welds at zero starting point. At the same time, the exhaust channels and grids, which turned out to be unnecessary for mortar start, were thrown out of the design of the launcher. As a result, mine security has increased markedly. The effectiveness of the selected technical solutions was confirmed by tests at the nuclear testing site in Semipalatinsk.
The first launch of the R-36M flight test design program in 1972 at the Baikonur test site was unsuccessful. After leaving the mine, she rose into the air and suddenly fell right on the launch pad, destroying the launcher. Emergency were the second and third starts. The first successful test launch of the R-36M equipped with a monoblock warhead was held on February 21, 1973.
In September 1973, the R-36M version equipped with an MIRV-IN with ten warheads was put to the test (data on the variant of the rocket equipped with an MIRR-IN with eight warheads is given in the press).
The Americans closely watched the tests of our first ICBMs equipped with an RCMR. “The US Navy ship Arnold was located off the coast of the Kamchatka test site during missile launches. Over the same area constantly patrolled four-engine aircraft laboratory B-52, equipped with telemetry and other equipment. As soon as the plane flew off to refuel, a missile was launched at the test site. If the launch during such a “window” could not be carried out, then we waited until the next “window” or used technical measures to close the information leakage channels ”. Close these channels completely was impossible. For example, before launching missiles, Kamchatka warned by radio of its civilian pilots about the inadmissibility of flights during a certain period of time. Carrying out radio interception, US intelligence agencies analyzed the meteorological situation in the area and came to the conclusion that the upcoming missile launches could be the only obstacle to the flight.
In October 1973, by a government decree, the design bureau commissioned the development of a homing Mayak-1 (15F678) warhead with a gas cylinder control unit for the R-36M rocket. In April 1975, a draft design of a self-guided warhead was developed. In July 1978, flight tests began. In August 1980, tests of the self-guided warhead 15F678 with two variants of the terrain sighting equipment on the R-36M rocket were completed.
In October 1974, a government decree was issued to reduce the types of combat equipment of the R-36M and MR-UR-100 complexes. In October 1975, the flight tests of the R-36M were completed in three types of combat equipment and the RPG 15F143.
Development of the warheads continued. November 20, 1978 government decree adopted a monoblock warhead 15B86 as part of the R-36M. November 29, 1979 adopted by the MFV 15F143U complex R-36M.
In 1974, the Southern Machine-Building Plant in Dnepropetrovsk began mass production of the P-36M, the head parts and engines of the first stage. Serial production of combat units 15F144 and 15F147 was mastered at the Perm Chemical Equipment Plant (PZHO).
On December 25, 1974, a rocket regiment near the village of Dombarovsky of the Orenburg Region took up combat duty.
The R-36M missile system was adopted by government decree of December 30, 1975. The same resolution adopted the armament of ICBM MR-UR-100 and UR-100N. For all the ICBMs, a unified automated combat control system (ASBU) of the Leningrad NPO Impuls was created and first used. The one-piece version of the R-36M missile was put into service on November 20, 1978. The split-head version was put into service on November 29, 1979. The First Missile Regiment with the R-36M ICBM took up combat duty on December 25, 1974.
In 1980, the 15A14 missiles, which were on alert, were re-equipped without upgrading from the silo tank with advanced RPMs created for the 15A18 missile. The missiles continued combat duty under the designation 15A18-1.
In 1982, the R-36M ICBMs were removed from combat duty and replaced with the R-36M UTTH missiles (index 15A18, START code RS-20B).
The development of a third-generation strategic missile system 15P018 (R-36M UTTH) with a 15A18 missile, equipped with a 10-block split head, began on August 16, 1976. On September 18, 1979, three rocket regiments started to carry out combat duty at the new rocket complex. As of 1987, 308 ICBM R-36M UTTHs were deployed as part of five missile divisions. As of May 2006, the RVSN consists of 74 mine launchers with the MBR R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 (index 1518, code PC-20), each equipped with 10 warheads.
The missile control system is autonomous, inertial. Her work was provided by the onboard digital computing complex. All the main elements of the computing complex had redundancy. The use of BTWC made it possible to achieve high accuracy of shooting - the circular probable deviation of warheads was 430 m.
General characteristics of the ICBM
The schematic diagrams of the rocket and the control system are developed on the basis of the condition of the possibility of using three variants of the MS:
All missile warheads were equipped with an advanced set of missile defense weapons. For a complex of means to overcome missile defense missiles 15A14, quasi-heavy false targets were created for the first time. Thanks to the use of a special solid-propellant overclocking engine, the progressively increasing thrust of which compensates for the force of aerodynamic braking of a false goal, it was possible to achieve imitation of the characteristics of warheads in almost all selective traits on the extra-atmospheric portion of the trajectory and a considerable part of the atmospheric one.
After the death of Yangel in 1971, Vladimir Utkin was appointed chief designer of the Yuzhnoye design bureau . The control system of the MBR R-36M was developed under the leadership of the chief designer of the Kharkov Scientific Research Institute-692 (NPO "Khartron") Vladimir Sergeyev. The complex of means for overcoming the missile defense system was developed in the Central Scientific Research Institute. Solid propellant charges of powder pressure accumulators were developed at Soyuz LNPO under the direction of Boris Zhukov. A unified command post of increased mine-type security was developed at the TsKB TM under the direction of Nikolay Krivoshein and Boris Aksyutin. Initially, the warranty period of the rocket storage was set at 10 years, then - 15 years.
A great achievement of the new complexes was the possibility of remote retargeting before launching the rocket. For such a strategic weapon, this innovation was of paramount importance.
LRE rocket worked on high-boiling two-component self-igniting fuel. Asymmetric dimethylhydrazine ( UDMH ) was used as a fuel, and nitrogen tetraoxide ( AT ) was used as an oxidizing agent. Supercharging of all tanks was carried out by the combustion products of the main components of the fuel. The applied design solutions ensured a high degree of tightness of the fuel systems, which made it possible to satisfy the requirements for the seven-year storage of the rocket in the filled state. The use of these components made it possible to maintain the combat readiness of the missile complex for many years.
The R-36M missile is equipped with a first-stage mid-flight engine, developed at Energomash Design Bureau under the guidance of Valentin Glushko. The designers assembled the first stage of the R-36M rocket consisting of six single-chamber engines, and the second stage - from one single-chamber engine, maximally unified with the first stage engine - the differences were only in the altitude chamber nozzle. Everything was as before, but ... But to develop the engine for the R-36M, Yangel decided to attract KBKhA Konopatov ... New design solutions, modern technologies, improved methods for finishing the LRE, modernized stands and updated technological equipment - all this could be put by Energomash on the scales, suggesting their participation in the development of the R-36M and MR-UR-100 systems ... Glushko suggested for the first stage of the R-36M rocket four single-chamber engines operating according to the scheme with afterburning of the oxidizing generator gas, each with a load of 10 0 ton-force, pressure in the combustion chamber 200 atm, specific thrust impulse at the ground 293 kg.s. / kg, thrust vector control by deflecting the engine. According to the classification, the Energomash designation engine received the designation RD-264 (four RD-263 engines on a common frame ... Glushko’s proposals were accepted, KBHA was assigned to develop a second-stage engine for the R-36M. The draft design of the RD-264 engine was completed in 1969.
The challenge was to ensure reliable launch of the first-stage engines with a mortar launch. Engine fire tests on the stand started in April 1970. In 1971, the design documentation was transferred to the Southern Machine-Building Plant for the preparation of mass production. Engine tests were conducted from December 1972 to January 1973. During the flight tests of the R-36M rocket, the need for forcing the first stage engine by 5 percent was revealed. Bench testing of the forced engine was completed in September 1973, and the flight tests of the rocket continued.
308 R-36M2 were deployed in the USSR, of which one third were in Kazakhstan. After the collapse of the USSR, the Kazakh missiles were removed from combat duty, and the manufacturer and design bureau were located outside Russia.
As an experienced hunter periodically checks his old cartridges, so the old man is periodically allowed to the “Governor” solely to check his resources, the operability of the main units and weapons. Testers of this launch each time try to answer the question: did the tactical and technical characteristics and safety indicators laid down by the designers survived after two decades of standing on combat duty? Although, as the military say, a complex of scientific and technical research is conducted annually.
This is how the last test launches of the Voevods showed that a further extension of the service life of the Voyevoda missile complex to 25 years will increase the service life of these missiles by 10 years over the originally established warranty period of operation - 15 years. That is, from these words with the help of simple arithmetic action we can conclude: "Governors" who managed to build and put on combat duty in the year of the collapse of the USSR - that is, in 1991, now marks 19 years, and another seven years they will defend the boundaries of the Russian Federation - until 2016 ...
However, this time the high ranks promised that "... in order to ensure nuclear safety, the old modification of the RS-20 missile under the letter" B ", whose operational life is running out, will be removed from combat duty".
Not so long ago, another high rank said that by the end of 2016 Russia was planning to create a new heavy fuel oil intercontinental missile to replace Voivode. According to him, the emphasis in building a promising strike force of the Strategic Missile Forces will be made on a qualitative transformation so that by the end of 2016 no more than 20 percent of the missile systems with extended life of the RS-20 will remain, and the freed 80 percent would occupy the new missile complexes.
Well ... let's hope further that the possible lifetimes of the nuclear potential of the USSR will be extended for a long time ...
By the nature of my basic training, I was fortunate enough to meet some of the models of those famous weapons that were scaring the commander in chief of the “probable enemy”. Regarding the R-36M, I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the design of only the second stage ... I can note that the design solutions that were used in the design can be called technical “art” :) In particular, the solution for locating the propulsion system at the second stage is impressive. The situation was such that a rather dense arrangement of elements was used, and the working elements of the remote control had to be placed in the working environment of the tanks, i.e. engine components operate in a hostile rocket fuel environment. Such a solution, in my opinion, could not be implemented not on one of the existing ICBMs (and probably now).
Naturally, to achieve such outstanding product characteristics was impossible without the technological base, which was created on the basis of the "Southern Machine-Building Plant". Why are only the machines for the manufacture of "wafer" tanks, which are huge machines 4-5 meters tall and which had no analogues then in the world ...
By the way, about the "black" color of the ICBM, which so interested readers in the article about the Museum of the Strategic Missile Forces - in fact it is not a paint, but a special coating of heat-insulating coating, acting as one of the protection against the factors of a nuclear explosion. By the way, in Yuzhniy Design Bureau itself, they said with sadness that when the ICBMs located in Ukraine (with the help of American figures ) were disposed of, they could not even cut this coating with diamond tools, which of course surprised American experts: )
Separately, I would like to point out that the means of overcoming the missile defense system of a potential enemy, which made up the variant with split warheads, which are so diverse and progressive for their time, that any attempts by the likely enemy to create at least some line of defense against the P-36M product (2) turned out to be failure and while such products are in service, such missile defense systems will be useless for a long time.
So, such unique products were created in the very heyday of the military scientific and technological progress of the huge red country - the USSR ...
Material prepared by:
If the article turns out to be interesting, then I think it makes sense to tell about another unique project that has no analogues in the world, the layout of which is located not far from St. Petersburg, on one of the spare parts - “Molodets” (PC-22B) BS , called in the West "Scalpel".
Intro
Heavy missiles RS-20 - according to the NATO classification SS-18 "Satan" - intercontinental missiles, adopted on December 30, 1975. The rocket is 34 meters long, has two stages and can carry up to 16 charges at a distance of 10 thousand kilometers. Warheads of individual guidance with a total charge capacity equal to 1200 bombs dropped on Hiroshima. The RS-20 can destroy potential enemy targets on an area of ​​up to 500 square kilometers (for example, the area of ​​the city of Washington , a little less than 200 sq. Km). It was created in the early 1970s by the NPO Yuzhnoye (Dnepropetrovsk).
A bit of history
On September 2, 1969, a government decree was issued on the development of the R-36M, MR-UR-100 and UR-100N missile systems equipped with an RP (Split Head Parts) IN (Individual Guidance) missiles, the advantages of which were due mainly to the fact that the best way is to distribute the available warheads to the targets of destruction, increase capabilities and ensure the flexibility of planning nuclear missile strikes.
')
The development of the P-36M and MR-UR-100 began in Yuzhnoye Design Bureau under the leadership of Mikhail Yangel , who proposed using a mortar launch “tested” on the RT-20P rocket. The concept of a heavy cold start (mortar) rocket was developed by Mikhail Yangel in 1969. Mortar start allowed to improve the energy capabilities of the missiles without increasing the starting mass. Chief Designer TsKB-34 Evgeny Rudyak did not agree with this concept, considering the development of a mortar launch system for a rocket weighing more than two hundred tons impossible. After Rudyak left in December 1970, the design office of the special mechanical engineering (former KB-1 of the Leningrad TsKB-34) was headed by Vladimir Stepanov, who reacted positively to the idea of ​​a “cold” launch of heavy rockets using a powder pressure accumulator (PAD).
In the photo below, the UR-100 (SS-17), which is located in the courtyard of the museum of cosmonautics in the Dnepropetrovsk National Aerospace Center .
The main problem was the depreciation of the rocket in the mine. Previously, huge metal springs served as shock absorbers, but the weight of the P-36M did not allow them to be used. It was decided to use compressed gas as shock absorbers. The gas could hold more weight, but the problem arose: how to keep the high-pressure gas itself throughout the entire service life of the rocket? The KB Spetsmash team managed to solve this problem and refine the P-36 mines for new, heavier missiles. The production of unique shock absorbers started Volgograd plant "Barricades".
In parallel with the KBSM Stepanov, the Moscow KBTM under the direction of Vsevolod Solovyov worked on the development of the silo for the rocket. To absorb the rocket, located in the transport and launch container, KBTM was proposed a fundamentally new compact pendulum rocket suspension system in the mine. A sketch project was developed in 1970, in May of the same year, the project was successfully defended in the Ministry of General Education.
The final version adopted the modified mine launcher Vladimir Stepanov.
In December 1969, the R-36M missile project was developed with four types of combat equipment - a monoblock light warhead, a monoblock heavy warhead, a split warhead and a maneuvering warhead.
In March 1970, a draft of the rocket was developed with a simultaneous increase in the protection of silos.
In August 1970, the USSR Defense Council approved the proposal of the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau to modernize the R-36 and create the R-36M missile system with enhanced silos.
At the factory, the missiles were placed in a transport-launch container, where all the equipment needed for launching was placed, after which all necessary checks were carried out at the factory test bench. When replacing the outgoing R-36 with the new R-36M, a metal power cup with a depreciation system and PU equipment was inserted into the mine, and the whole enlarged assembly at the test site was reduced to only three (since the launcher consisted of three parts) with additional welds at zero starting point. At the same time, the exhaust channels and grids, which turned out to be unnecessary for mortar start, were thrown out of the design of the launcher. As a result, mine security has increased markedly. The effectiveness of the selected technical solutions was confirmed by tests at the nuclear testing site in Semipalatinsk.
Tests and adoption
The first launch of the R-36M flight test design program in 1972 at the Baikonur test site was unsuccessful. After leaving the mine, she rose into the air and suddenly fell right on the launch pad, destroying the launcher. Emergency were the second and third starts. The first successful test launch of the R-36M equipped with a monoblock warhead was held on February 21, 1973.
In September 1973, the R-36M version equipped with an MIRV-IN with ten warheads was put to the test (data on the variant of the rocket equipped with an MIRR-IN with eight warheads is given in the press).
The Americans closely watched the tests of our first ICBMs equipped with an RCMR. “The US Navy ship Arnold was located off the coast of the Kamchatka test site during missile launches. Over the same area constantly patrolled four-engine aircraft laboratory B-52, equipped with telemetry and other equipment. As soon as the plane flew off to refuel, a missile was launched at the test site. If the launch during such a “window” could not be carried out, then we waited until the next “window” or used technical measures to close the information leakage channels ”. Close these channels completely was impossible. For example, before launching missiles, Kamchatka warned by radio of its civilian pilots about the inadmissibility of flights during a certain period of time. Carrying out radio interception, US intelligence agencies analyzed the meteorological situation in the area and came to the conclusion that the upcoming missile launches could be the only obstacle to the flight.
In October 1973, by a government decree, the design bureau commissioned the development of a homing Mayak-1 (15F678) warhead with a gas cylinder control unit for the R-36M rocket. In April 1975, a draft design of a self-guided warhead was developed. In July 1978, flight tests began. In August 1980, tests of the self-guided warhead 15F678 with two variants of the terrain sighting equipment on the R-36M rocket were completed.
In October 1974, a government decree was issued to reduce the types of combat equipment of the R-36M and MR-UR-100 complexes. In October 1975, the flight tests of the R-36M were completed in three types of combat equipment and the RPG 15F143.
Development of the warheads continued. November 20, 1978 government decree adopted a monoblock warhead 15B86 as part of the R-36M. November 29, 1979 adopted by the MFV 15F143U complex R-36M.
In 1974, the Southern Machine-Building Plant in Dnepropetrovsk began mass production of the P-36M, the head parts and engines of the first stage. Serial production of combat units 15F144 and 15F147 was mastered at the Perm Chemical Equipment Plant (PZHO).
On December 25, 1974, a rocket regiment near the village of Dombarovsky of the Orenburg Region took up combat duty.
The R-36M missile system was adopted by government decree of December 30, 1975. The same resolution adopted the armament of ICBM MR-UR-100 and UR-100N. For all the ICBMs, a unified automated combat control system (ASBU) of the Leningrad NPO Impuls was created and first used. The one-piece version of the R-36M missile was put into service on November 20, 1978. The split-head version was put into service on November 29, 1979. The First Missile Regiment with the R-36M ICBM took up combat duty on December 25, 1974.
In 1980, the 15A14 missiles, which were on alert, were re-equipped without upgrading from the silo tank with advanced RPMs created for the 15A18 missile. The missiles continued combat duty under the designation 15A18-1.
In 1982, the R-36M ICBMs were removed from combat duty and replaced with the R-36M UTTH missiles (index 15A18, START code RS-20B).
The development of a third-generation strategic missile system 15P018 (R-36M UTTH) with a 15A18 missile, equipped with a 10-block split head, began on August 16, 1976. On September 18, 1979, three rocket regiments started to carry out combat duty at the new rocket complex. As of 1987, 308 ICBM R-36M UTTHs were deployed as part of five missile divisions. As of May 2006, the RVSN consists of 74 mine launchers with the MBR R-36M UTTH and R-36M2 (index 1518, code PC-20), each equipped with 10 warheads.
TTX
The missile control system is autonomous, inertial. Her work was provided by the onboard digital computing complex. All the main elements of the computing complex had redundancy. The use of BTWC made it possible to achieve high accuracy of shooting - the circular probable deviation of warheads was 430 m.
General characteristics of the ICBM
| The diameter of the BR, m | 3 |
| Starting weight, t | 209.6 - 210 |
| Mass of fuel, t | 185 |
| Maximum range, km | 16,000 |
| Firing range minimum, km | 9250 |
| BR length, m | 35 |
| Payload mass, kg | 7200 |
| Flight reliability | 0.965 |
| The ratio of energy-weight perfection Gpg / Go, kgf / ts | 40.1 |
| Shooting accuracy (at a distance of 10,000 km), km | ± 0.65 |
| Generalized reliability | 0.93 |
| Startup time from full alert, with | 62 |
| The resistance of the rocket to the damaging factors of nuclear weapons in flight | Level 1 |
| Initially established warranty period of storage, years | 15 |
The schematic diagrams of the rocket and the control system are developed on the basis of the condition of the possibility of using three variants of the MS:
- Light monoblock with a charge capacity of 8 Mt and a range of 16,000 km
- Heavy monoblock with a charge capacity of 25 Mt with a range of 11,200 km
- Splitting warhead (MF) of 8 combat units with a capacity of 1 Mt
All missile warheads were equipped with an advanced set of missile defense weapons. For a complex of means to overcome missile defense missiles 15A14, quasi-heavy false targets were created for the first time. Thanks to the use of a special solid-propellant overclocking engine, the progressively increasing thrust of which compensates for the force of aerodynamic braking of a false goal, it was possible to achieve imitation of the characteristics of warheads in almost all selective traits on the extra-atmospheric portion of the trajectory and a considerable part of the atmospheric one.
After the death of Yangel in 1971, Vladimir Utkin was appointed chief designer of the Yuzhnoye design bureau . The control system of the MBR R-36M was developed under the leadership of the chief designer of the Kharkov Scientific Research Institute-692 (NPO "Khartron") Vladimir Sergeyev. The complex of means for overcoming the missile defense system was developed in the Central Scientific Research Institute. Solid propellant charges of powder pressure accumulators were developed at Soyuz LNPO under the direction of Boris Zhukov. A unified command post of increased mine-type security was developed at the TsKB TM under the direction of Nikolay Krivoshein and Boris Aksyutin. Initially, the warranty period of the rocket storage was set at 10 years, then - 15 years.
A great achievement of the new complexes was the possibility of remote retargeting before launching the rocket. For such a strategic weapon, this innovation was of paramount importance.
Rocket propulsion systems (RDU)
LRE rocket worked on high-boiling two-component self-igniting fuel. Asymmetric dimethylhydrazine ( UDMH ) was used as a fuel, and nitrogen tetraoxide ( AT ) was used as an oxidizing agent. Supercharging of all tanks was carried out by the combustion products of the main components of the fuel. The applied design solutions ensured a high degree of tightness of the fuel systems, which made it possible to satisfy the requirements for the seven-year storage of the rocket in the filled state. The use of these components made it possible to maintain the combat readiness of the missile complex for many years.
The R-36M missile is equipped with a first-stage mid-flight engine, developed at Energomash Design Bureau under the guidance of Valentin Glushko. The designers assembled the first stage of the R-36M rocket consisting of six single-chamber engines, and the second stage - from one single-chamber engine, maximally unified with the first stage engine - the differences were only in the altitude chamber nozzle. Everything was as before, but ... But to develop the engine for the R-36M, Yangel decided to attract KBKhA Konopatov ... New design solutions, modern technologies, improved methods for finishing the LRE, modernized stands and updated technological equipment - all this could be put by Energomash on the scales, suggesting their participation in the development of the R-36M and MR-UR-100 systems ... Glushko suggested for the first stage of the R-36M rocket four single-chamber engines operating according to the scheme with afterburning of the oxidizing generator gas, each with a load of 10 0 ton-force, pressure in the combustion chamber 200 atm, specific thrust impulse at the ground 293 kg.s. / kg, thrust vector control by deflecting the engine. According to the classification, the Energomash designation engine received the designation RD-264 (four RD-263 engines on a common frame ... Glushko’s proposals were accepted, KBHA was assigned to develop a second-stage engine for the R-36M. The draft design of the RD-264 engine was completed in 1969.
The challenge was to ensure reliable launch of the first-stage engines with a mortar launch. Engine fire tests on the stand started in April 1970. In 1971, the design documentation was transferred to the Southern Machine-Building Plant for the preparation of mass production. Engine tests were conducted from December 1972 to January 1973. During the flight tests of the R-36M rocket, the need for forcing the first stage engine by 5 percent was revealed. Bench testing of the forced engine was completed in September 1973, and the flight tests of the rocket continued.
Future and present
308 R-36M2 were deployed in the USSR, of which one third were in Kazakhstan. After the collapse of the USSR, the Kazakh missiles were removed from combat duty, and the manufacturer and design bureau were located outside Russia.
As an experienced hunter periodically checks his old cartridges, so the old man is periodically allowed to the “Governor” solely to check his resources, the operability of the main units and weapons. Testers of this launch each time try to answer the question: did the tactical and technical characteristics and safety indicators laid down by the designers survived after two decades of standing on combat duty? Although, as the military say, a complex of scientific and technical research is conducted annually.
This is how the last test launches of the Voevods showed that a further extension of the service life of the Voyevoda missile complex to 25 years will increase the service life of these missiles by 10 years over the originally established warranty period of operation - 15 years. That is, from these words with the help of simple arithmetic action we can conclude: "Governors" who managed to build and put on combat duty in the year of the collapse of the USSR - that is, in 1991, now marks 19 years, and another seven years they will defend the boundaries of the Russian Federation - until 2016 ...
However, this time the high ranks promised that "... in order to ensure nuclear safety, the old modification of the RS-20 missile under the letter" B ", whose operational life is running out, will be removed from combat duty".
Not so long ago, another high rank said that by the end of 2016 Russia was planning to create a new heavy fuel oil intercontinental missile to replace Voivode. According to him, the emphasis in building a promising strike force of the Strategic Missile Forces will be made on a qualitative transformation so that by the end of 2016 no more than 20 percent of the missile systems with extended life of the RS-20 will remain, and the freed 80 percent would occupy the new missile complexes.
Well ... let's hope further that the possible lifetimes of the nuclear potential of the USSR will be extended for a long time ...
Afterword ...
By the nature of my basic training, I was fortunate enough to meet some of the models of those famous weapons that were scaring the commander in chief of the “probable enemy”. Regarding the R-36M, I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with the design of only the second stage ... I can note that the design solutions that were used in the design can be called technical “art” :) In particular, the solution for locating the propulsion system at the second stage is impressive. The situation was such that a rather dense arrangement of elements was used, and the working elements of the remote control had to be placed in the working environment of the tanks, i.e. engine components operate in a hostile rocket fuel environment. Such a solution, in my opinion, could not be implemented not on one of the existing ICBMs (and probably now).
Naturally, to achieve such outstanding product characteristics was impossible without the technological base, which was created on the basis of the "Southern Machine-Building Plant". Why are only the machines for the manufacture of "wafer" tanks, which are huge machines 4-5 meters tall and which had no analogues then in the world ...
By the way, about the "black" color of the ICBM, which so interested readers in the article about the Museum of the Strategic Missile Forces - in fact it is not a paint, but a special coating of heat-insulating coating, acting as one of the protection against the factors of a nuclear explosion. By the way, in Yuzhniy Design Bureau itself, they said with sadness that when the ICBMs located in Ukraine (
Separately, I would like to point out that the means of overcoming the missile defense system of a potential enemy, which made up the variant with split warheads, which are so diverse and progressive for their time, that any attempts by the likely enemy to create at least some line of defense against the P-36M product (2) turned out to be failure and while such products are in service, such missile defense systems will be useless for a long time.
So, such unique products were created in the very heyday of the military scientific and technological progress of the huge red country - the USSR ...
Material prepared by:
If the article turns out to be interesting, then I think it makes sense to tell about another unique project that has no analogues in the world, the layout of which is located not far from St. Petersburg, on one of the spare parts - “Molodets” (PC-22B) BS , called in the West "Scalpel".
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/87341/
All Articles